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A retired NYPD cop shot his neighbor’s boyfriend in the head on a Brooklyn street Monday, then stole his cellphone and keys before locking himself in the victim’s pad, police said.

Gene Barrett, 51 — described by sources as a menace who picks fights with his Greenpoint neighbors over everything from parking to the rent — surrendered to officers about two hours later.

Barrett, a former Midtown North officer who left the department on disability in 2002, shot victim Joseph Sapinksi, 45, without warning outside their building at 185 Greenpoint Ave. around 2:30 p.m., police sources said.

While it’s unclear what sparked the shooting, a neighbor who chose to remain anonymous told The Post that the ex-cop claimed to have found hidden cameras in his apartment several days ago — and had been confronting Sapinski about the alleged discovery throughout the week.

Joseph SapinksiFacebook

“I saw two men. There was a guy bleeding on the floor, from his head. I saw him fall to the floor,” said Chris Saunders, a 40-year-old mail carrier who was making drop-offs when the drama unfolded.

“Then I saw a girl running and crying, saying, ‘Someone just got shot!’ She said the shooter went in the building.”

Barrett was seen on surveillance video rummaging through Sapinski’s pockets after the shooting and taking his phone and keys before retreating inside.

He holed up in the apartment belonging to his girlfriend as cops rushed Sapinski to Bellevue Hospital. It’s unclear if the woman was in the home at the time.

Sapinksi was listed in extremely critical condition and placed on life support, cops said.
Barrett spent two hours inside the pad as NYPD snipers perched on nearby rooftops and an army of cops swarmed the area.

He finally walked out with his hands up around 4:30 p.m. and was hauled off in cuffs. The former cop then clammed up and asked for his lawyer, sources said.

Barrett — who retired on disability because of a bad back — is known to fly off the handle “over anything and everything,” the sources said.

He has complained about tenants and the FBI spying on him several times in the past and even hung signs outside urging people to stay away, police sources said.

In addition to acting paranoid, Barrett has made at least 12 complaints with the local police precinct about various things — from people letting the air out of his tires to someone putting cameras in his backyard, the sources said.

“He’s a nut. He’s been arguing with his neighbors for over 10 years,’’ a law-enforcement source said of Barrett.

“Just a quiet angry guy,” added one of his former neighbors. “In the middle of the night, he would be drunk [and] mad about something and just shout ‘c–t’ at the top of his lungs.”

Several witnesses told police that they saw Barrett shoot the man. Authorities recovered two firearms at the scene, but it’s unclear whether they belonged to the ex-cop. The broad daylight shooting stunned Greenpointers.

“Holy s–t, someone just got shot on #Greenpoint Ave,” tweeted Camille Raneem, who works at a shop nearby.